Microcentrifuge tubes are commonly used for a wide variety of tests which require only small amounts of test fluid. Microcentrifuge tubes typically have a hinged snap cap such as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Due to its very small size, grasping a microcentrifuge tube, and opening or closing its tightly-fitting snap cap, is difficult, especially for a technician having larger than average hands.
During research or testing, a technician typically opens and closes each microcentrifuge tube several times per experiment to add or subtract fluid from the microcentrifuge tube. It is also common for a laboratory or research technician to handle hundreds of microcentrifuge tubes each day. The cumulative effect of repeatedly opening and closing the snap cap of hundreds of microcentrifuge tubes in a single day is often fatigue or injury to the technician. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus for opening and closing the cap of a microcentrifuge tube to reduce fatigue or injury to the technician.
Microcentrifuge tubes are provided in a plurality of sizes, each of which has a different size cap. It is common for a technician to handle concurrently a wide range of different size microcentrifuge tubes. Therefore, it would also be desirable to provide a single apparatus which will open and close a plurality of different size microcentrifuge tubes.
During testing or experimentation, a technician routinely opens a microcentrifuge tube, meters fluid to or from the tube using a pipette gun, and then closes the tube for subsequent centrifuging. To manually open the snap cap of a microcentrifuge tube, a technician must grasp the tube with a first hand and prye open the cap with a second hand. To meter fluid to or from the microcentrifuge tube, the technician holds the tube in a first hand and holds the pipette gun in a second hand. Each time the tube is opened or closed using the above-described two-hand manual operation, the technician must set the pipette gun down on the laboratory bench. The cumulative effect of the added step of repeatedly picking up and setting down the pipette gun in order to open and then close hundreds of microcentrifuge tubes in a single day further adds to the fatigue or injury to the technician. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus which enables a technician to hold the microcentrifuge tube in one hand, and to open and close the cap of the tube without requiring a second hand.